Saturday 30 June 2018

Book Review - The Bespokist Society Guide to. London - Blog Tour - Bookish World Cup - England


Amazon UK
Title: The Bespokist Society Guide to. London
Author: Bespokist Ltd
Format reviewed: Paperback
Source: Supplied for the blog tour
Publisher: Acorn
Publication Date: 28th March 2018 
Rating: 4 Stars


"Wow!!! A genuinely bespoke city guide!!!" - Tommy Sponge, Chairman, The Bespokist Society

As the first travel book produced by the hugely influential Bespokist Society, this handy guide takes you to a London you’ve never seen: a London of challenging Etruscan restaurants, edgy branding parlours, emoji hotels and hidden Icelandic communities; a London where 8-ply toilet paper is a thing.

On the way, meet an eclectic band of inspiring Londoners - from scriveners to socialites via urban wordsmiths and coffee preachers - and see why London is now the global epicentre of Bespokist consciousness, community and culture.

Sheer genius, or completely insane? Well I have been trying to decide that the whole time I was reading this book, and the only conclusion I can come to is that it has been written by some intelligent people, with a smart wit and some fantastic ideas. 

Being a Londoner there is no way you would catch me reading a real travel guide to London, as lets face it I know the bits I know and who ever explores the place they live?  However The Bespokist Society Guide to London is a spoof  travel guide that makes fun of everything to do with modern life. 

It is split into 5 main sections, north, south, east, west and central London and within each of those you will find "suggestions" on places to eat, sleep, stay, culture and more as well as interviews with local business owners. 

I found the food and drink sections the easiest to understand, as I could see just how much of a spoof they really are,  while some of the small businesses I did have to wonder if they really did exist and some of them were bizarrely not bad ideas in their own right! 

This is a pocket sized paperback, and even has photos of some of the areas highlighted in the guide.  It seems like the perfect sort of book to leave  about for people to dip in and out of.  Me? Well I read it in an hour in my garden, which is arguably information overload but I did spend most of the time with a smile on my face and a giggle rising about the surface.

Depending on your sense of humour you will either love this book, or won't have the foggiest what is going on either with the ideas, or potentially the real world!  

If you are looking for a book that doesn't take itself seriously, and gives you an insight into the absurdities of modern life then this could be the book for you. 

Thank you to Anne Cater for this copy for the blog tour which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 



ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Who are we? 
A social collective with a passion for the curated and the bespoke. Current chairman is Tommy Sponge. 
Where did it begin?
Like the impressionists who forged an artistic movement in the fin de siecle coffee shops of Paris, The Bespokist Society began in a biospheric winery in Norbiton in 2013.

Jez Tapano
Born : Easter Island
Lives : Plaistow
Favourite drink : Messy Monk IPA
Favourite food : Heritage carrots
Favourite hangout : Vine n Vinyl of course!

Nastya Petrov
 Born : Vladivostock
Lives : Harrow on the Hill
Favourite drink : Dagenham Gin on the rocks
Favourite food : Rare breed walrus
Favourite hangout : Nina Saviceu gallery

Twitter: @TheBespokist





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